Health Literacy:        

Health literacy is defined as the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions.

Promoting health literacy at organizational, provider and heath care consumer levels is important for more effective patient-provider communication.  This is particularly important for patients of color at risk for disparate negative health outcomes.

Barriers to
Health Literacy:

CT Health Senior Program Officer Elizabeth Krause recently coauthored an article in the American Nurses Association’s Online Journal of Issues in Nursing.  “Understanding Cultural and Linguistic Barriers to Health Literacy” discusses how culture and language set the context for acquiring and applying health literacy skills for many patients of color.  

The CT Health Foundation’s website features an analysis of how the needle has moved in Connecticut over the last 10 years to close the racial and ethnic health disparities gap.

American Diabetes Association
Get the latest diabetes news and research summaries.
Recipes, etc.
www.diabetes.org

Diabetes: MedlinePlus
Overviews; Latest News; Diagnosis/Symptoms; Treatment; Prevention/Screening. Understanding Risk Factors for Type 2 Diabetes...
www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/diabetes.html

Stem Cell Research Questions & Answers

Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
www.jdrf.org/index.php
 
NDEP | Information & Tips on Diabetes Prevention
Diabetes prevention is proven, possible, and powerful. Studies show that people at high risk for type 2 diabetes can prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes.

ndep.nih.gov/diabetes/prev/prevention.htm
 
National Diabetes Education Program

• healthfinder.gov - NDEP
• http://ndep.nih.gov/diabetes/pubs/FS_AmIndian.pdf

Diabetes Prevention

www.ndep.nih.gov/diabetes/prev/prevention.htm

Feet Can Last a Lifetime Kit: www.healthfinder.gov/orgs/HR3465.htm

High Blood Pressure (HBP) is a major contributor to kidney failure.

Diabetes is proliferating

Diet & exercise can help to reduce the effects of HBP and Diabetes.

If you have HBP & Diabetes in your family, get a check up; know your numbers for each. Keep an updated record.

If your blood pressure is high, work at lowering it.  Walk briskly everyday for at least 20 mins. African-Americans are 17 times more likely than Caucasians to develop hypertension (HBP)

Be proactive with & about your health.  Take good care of yourself.